DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION—While the 2026 midterm elections have garnered widespread media attention for the fierce battle to control both houses of Congress, voters in three dozen states will also head to the polls to elect governors.

Of the 36 governor’s mansions up for grabs in the midterms, half are controlled by Democrats and half by Republicans. With more than 10 months to go before Election Day, primary season is already in full swing, and several gubernatorial races across the country have been marked by unpredictability and drawn significant attention.

Florida

Incumbent Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who won reelection by nearly 20 percentage points in 2022, is term limited and cannot run for a third consecutive time—paving the way for a contested GOP primary to succeed him.

Long-regarded as a hotly-contested swing state, Florida is now a Republican stronghold that Trump carried by 13 points in 2024. Therefore, it is widely believed that the candidate that emerges as the party’s nominee for the governor’s mansion following the Aug. 18, 2026 primary will win the November general election. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the Sunshine State’s contest as “Solid R.”

Trump had endorsed Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds for governor in February—five days before Donalds entered the race—cementing the 47-year-old congressman as the race’s early odds-on frontrunner. In addition to the president, Donalds also has received the support of Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a handful of his congressional colleagues, multiple members of Trump’s cabinet and billionaire Elon Musk.

DeSantis, however, has yet to make an endorsement and may still back another GOP primary candidate. An anonymous source familiar with Florida politics told the Daily Caller in November that the state’s sitting governor is “point-blank trashing” Donalds to donors. Donalds, along with the vast majority of Florida’s congressional Republicans, notably endorsed Trump over DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. 

Republican Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, a key DeSantis ally whom the governor appointed to the state’s No. 2 job in August, has signaled that he is open to entering the gubernatorial race but has also yet to either declare his candidacy or decline to run.

Early in 2025, observers speculated that DeSantis’ wife Casey DeSantis may run to succeed her husband, but such talk has subsided. Mrs. DeSantis has yet to state her intention either way.

Donalds’ only current primary challenger to have held electoral office is former Florida state House Speaker Paul Renner, a self-styled “pro-Trump, pro-DeSantis Republican.” Despite this, DeSantis has come out in vocal opposition to Renner’s longshot campaign, calling his former legislative ally’s decision to run “ill-advised.”

Also in the GOP primary race is James Fishback, the 30-year-old CEO of investment firm Azoria Partners and a vocal critic of H-1B visas, who is campaigning to Donalds’ right. Fishback in February came under scrutiny after proposing the viral idea that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency  send $5,000 dividend checks to households using money saved by the initiative.

Stopping short of entering the race, Collins in a Nov. 20 X post took a dig at Donalds writing, “In my first 100 days as Lieutenant Governor, I’ve already outperformed the guy in Congress still trying to convince people he’s ready to lead Florida.”

In response to a user asking him to........

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